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serendipitysbooks's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
My first pick from the #carolshieldsprize longlist was a good one. Junie is a sapphic coming of age story set in Hogans Alley, a vibrant Black and immigrant community in Vancouver’s East End, during the 1930s. It’s a story about the complicated mother-daughter relationships that occur when women can’t mother in the way their daughters want or need. We see this with Junie, whose mother Maddie is a nightclub singer who struggles with alcohol. We also see it with Estelle, Junie’s friend, whose mother Faye operates a nightclub, is very focused on business and expects Estelle to be independent. The not always smooth friendship between Junie and Estelle is another important strand in the story. The third crucial stand involves the arts and mentors, Junie’s love of poetry and her talent for art and the role of Miss Shirley and Mr Andrew in nurturing that talent, encouraging and supporting her in her artistic endeavours. Finally we see Junie’s developing sexuality, and how her attraction to women causes further rifts in her relationship with her mother. I loved Junie. I felt she had the other characters were compelling. The writing was lush and intimate. The book had a slightly unusual structure in that each chapter ended with a short, entirely separate section, often but not always in the first person from Junie’s perspective. I know some readers struggled with these but I enjoyed them and felt they added a little something extra to Junie’s story and the way the author chose to tell it. The story also moves around a little in time, predominantly moving through the 1930s chronologically, but also jumping back to different periods in the 1920s. The time period was always clearly signalled and I liked the peeks into the pasts of Maddie and Faye since it fleshed them out as characters and helped me better understand them.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism and Lesbophobia
howdoyouwords's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Racism
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